Machine for separating coffee.



.No. 896,032. a 'PATENTED AUG. 11, 1908.

W. L. MAAS.

MACHINE FUR SEPARATING COFFEE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12, 1904.

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No. 896,032. PATENTED AUG. 11, 1908. W. L. MAAS.

MACHINE FOR SEPARATING COFFEE. APPLICATION FILED-NOV. 12, 1904.

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W. L. MAAS.

MACHINE FOR SEPARATING COFFEE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12, 1904.

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W. L. MAAS.

MACHINE FOR SEPARATING COFFEE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.12, 1904.

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WALTER L. MAAS, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

MACHINE FOR SEPARATING COFFEE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1908.

Application filed. November 12, 19%. Serial No. 232,399.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that- I, WALTER L. h/IAAS, a citizen of the United States,residing at St.

Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have-invented anew and useful Machine for Separating Coffee, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for separating cofleeand other commodities. Its primary object, as applied to coffee, is toseparate what is commonly known as black or imperfect beans in greencoffee and the white or imperfect beans (commercially known as Quakers)after the coffee has been roasted. By removing the inferior beans thecoffee is improved in quality and increased in value. As applied toother commodities, its object is to separate the imperfect and defectivefrom the perfect. By the use of my invention this operation is performedquicker and with less hand labor and expense.

Further, among the objects of my invention, are to change the speed ofthe feed mechanism and adjust the parts for separating the imperfect anddefective from the perfect in various products.

This invention also contemplates numerous features of construction andcombinations of parts hereinafter more particularly described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Figure1 is a side view of my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view, takenon the line X X, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end view, looking at the backof the machine; Fig. 4 is an enlarged view, looking at the front of themachine when the table is detached; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectionalview, taken on the line aa, of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail viewof part of the drive mechanism; Fig. 7 is a de tail sectional view,taken on the line 5-1), of Fig. 6, showing the eccentric; Fig. 8 is anenlarged detail sectional View, showing part of the feed mechanism; Fig.9 is a detail view of the guard on the front side of the hopper; Fig. 10is an enlarged detail View of part of the clutch-operating mechanism;Fig. 11 is a detail view of the hanger for supporting the tray; Fig. 12is a detail side view of one of the pickers, and Fig. 13 is an enlargeddetail view of the drive mechanism.

In the drawings let A represent the frame, B the feed hopper, C the feedtray, D the table, E the apron, on the surface of which coffee from thehopper is fed by said tray, F the suction tubes, G the receiver for theimperfect commodity removed by the suction tubes, H the suction fan andI the actuating mechanism.

The hopper B is mounted upon the frame A by means of the angle irons 2,which are fastened to the sides of the hopper and to the frame by meansof the bolts 3. Near the bottom of the hopper a feed roller 4 is mountedupon the end shafts 5 and 6, which are j ournaled in the sides of thehopper and in the bracket 7.

The feed roller has longitudinal grooves 8 in its perimeter, and a strip9 of flexible material (such as leather) is sus ended to rub lightlyover the surface of the feed roller as it revolves in the direction ofthe arrows indicated in Fig. 8. The coffee or other commodity enters thegrooves of the roller,

asses the flexible strip which regulates the feed thereof and drops ontothe tray C when the roller revolves. A guard 10, vertically adjustableand detachable by'means of the screws 11, passing through the slots 12in the flanges 13, also prevents the coffee from feeding unevenly uponthe tray. The flexible strip 9 is tacked, at 14, upon the cross bar 15.This bar is adjusted vertlcally to regulate the flexible strip by meansof the bolts 16 passing through the vertical slots 17 and is set by thethumb nuts 18. The feed tray 0 inclines, as shown in Fig. 1, andconsists of the side bars 19 and 20, which su port a surface plate 21below the feed iofler in the hopper and a corrugated plate 22 adjacentto said surface plate; the corrugations thereof being longitudinallydisposed with relation to the movement of the tray and apron. The feedtray is swung. from the frame by means of the flexible strips 23 and thearms 24 and 25, which are pivotally connected to the side bars 19 and 20by the rods 26 and mounted upon the transverse shaft 27, which isournaled upon the frame. The arm 25 is provided with a handle 28, bywhich the angle of inclination of the tray may be varied, and a slottedsegment 29, through which a hand screw 30 passes to set the position ofthe arms 24 and 25 and hold the tray adjusted. The tray is oscillated bymeans of an eccentric 31, which is connected by the pitman rod 32 tosaid tray and carried upon the hub 33 of the driven member 34 of theclutch J. This clutch is mounted upon the drive shaft 35, turning in theboxes 36 on the frame and carryin a pulley 37. Between the hubs of thispulley and that of the drive section 38 of the clutch J is an expansionspring 39, the tendency'of which is to press the drive member intoengagement with the driven member of said clutch. To throw the clutchout of engagement, a bell crank lever 40 is pivoted between its ends, at41, upon the link 42. One arm of said lever is pivoted on the collar 43,which is free to turn on the drive member of the clutch. The link 42 ispivoted, at 44, upon the bracket 45, which is 'astened upon the frame.The other arm of the lever is pivoted, at 46, to the connecting rod 47,this rod in turn being pivoted, at 48, on the handle 49.

The handle, as shown in Fig. 10, is another bell crank lever, pivotednear its angle, at 50, on the side 52 of the table, and has an arm 51,which forms the hand piece by which it is operated. WVhen the handleassumes the full line osition, the clutch members are engage the drivenmember revolved and the tray oscillated, and when in the dotted lineposition, the clutch members are locked out of engagement, owing to therelative position of the pivot connection 48 and. the point 0 which thehandle turns.

The table D has two sides 52 and 53, be-

tween which is a top 54, over the surface of which the apron E travelsin the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 1. p

The apron E is an endless belt of suitable material (preferably made outofplush), which has a nap or shag upon its surface, for the purpose ofpreventing round berries from rolling upon its surface when fed from thedelivery end of the tray. The apron asses around the rollers 55 and 56.The rol er 55 is freely journaled upon the shaft 57, which is carried bythe adjusting supports 58 on the sides of the table, for the purpose ofalining the apron and causing it to travel directly between the sides ofthe table. The roller 56 is mounted upon the drive shaft 58, which is journaled in the sides of the table and in the boxes 59, which are placedbetween set bolts 60, carried by brackets 61 on the frame. By looseningthe set bolts 60, the table may be removed when desired. This mode offastening the parts together forms a convenient construction forseparating the machine when moved. The outer end of the table issupported by legs 62 and is provided with a spout 63, in which thecoffee drops as the apron revolves.

The shaft 58 carries a worm gear 64, which meshes with the worm 65 onthe shaft 66.

of the feed roller.

This shaft is journaled in the brackets 67 and.

68 on the frame and carries a friction disk 69 upon its end, against thesurfaces of which the drive member 70 of the variable speed mechanism Krevolves to move the apron E and revolve the feed roller 4 by means ofthe pulleys 71, 72, 73 and 74 and the belts 75 and 76. The pulley 71 ismounted on the shaft 58. The pulleys 72 and 73 are mounted on the shaft77, which passes through the hanger 78 on the frame, and the pulley 74is mounted upon the removable shaft 5, which is connected with the feedroller. The pulleys 73 and 74 are of step by step form to vary the speedThe drive member of the variable speed mechanism K is mounted freely toslide on the shaft 35 with its working surface in contact'with the faceof the disk 69. A collar 79, freely mounted in the groove 80 of the hub81 on the drive member 70, is pivotally attached, at 82, to one arm ofthe bell crank lever 83. The other arm of the bell crank lever .ispivotally attached, at 84, to the shifting rod 85, which passes throughthe guide 86 on the frame and is formed with a handle 87 by which it maybe operated to move the drive member 70 of the variable speed mechanism,to change the speed of operation of the belt and feed roller. A set bolt88, passing through the guide 86, is adapted to hold the shifting rodand drive member 70 in adjusted position. The bell crank lever 83 ispivoted near its angle, at 89, upon the bracket 90, which is fastened onthe frame.

Motion is communicated from the drive shaft 35 to the drive member 70 bymeans of a sleeve 91, which is fastened to the hub 81 by the bolts 92,and is in sliding connection with the driven member 34 of the clutch bymeans of the bolt 93 passing freely through the slot 94 in said sleeve(see Fig. 7).

Below the tray is stationed a suction fan H, which has a drive pulley 95operatively connected to the main drive shaft 35 by means of theintermediate pulleys 96, 97 and 37 and drive belts 98 and 99. Thesuction fan has an exhaust outlet 100 and an inlet pipe 101-, said inletbeing provided with a screen 102 to prevent the coffee beans passinginto the fan. The inlet pipe 101 is connected with a receiver 103 forreceiving the coffee beans which are removed by the suc tion fan.

The receiver has an inclined bottom 104 and an outlet door 105. A seriesof openings 106 are formed in the inlet pipe 1.01, with which a seriesof flexible suction tubes 1.07 are'connected. Each of these suctiontubes is provided with a picking tube 108, fastened upon its end, whichis movable at will with the free end of the suction tube to any point ofthe carrier surface. The mouth piece 109 of the picking tube is arrangedat strip and guard 10 adjusted.

an angle to the body or handle portion of the picker and is reduced insize toward its mouth 110. The mouth piece is provided with a series ofslots 111, which gradually taper toward the handle piece to compensatefor the reduction in size of the mouth 110 as compared with thecross-sectional area of the suction tube.

It has been found in practice that, without this adjustment, thestrength of the suction draft in the tube, to be sufficient to pick up abean without molesting a closely adjoining bean, must be provided withmeans of ingress for air besides the mouth of the picker; otherwise morethan a single bean is picked at a time when the tube is used. Thetapering slots 111 are carefully calculated so that where they are ofthe greatest width, the tube is of substantially the least diameter, andwhere the edges of the slots converge together, the picker is ofsubstantially the same diameter as the body portion of the suction tube.The combined cross-sectional area of the openings, taken on a given lineof the mouth piece, equals the cross-sectional area of the passagewaythrough the picking tube.

In operation the hopper is filled with coffee to be picked and the driveshaft 35 revolved continuously by means of the drive pulley 112. Theclutch J is closed by throwing the handle 51 into the full line positionshown in Fig. 10. The suction fan then draws air through the suctiontubes, and the tray is oscillated by means of the eccentric 31. Theapron E moves in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 1, and thecoffee is fed from the hopper onto the tray, which subsequentlydisperses it upon the surface of the apron, all of the beans beingseparated.

The speed of the feed mechanism may be adjusted by shifting the belt 76to different steps of the pulleys 73 and 7 4. The speed of the feed andthe apron E are also varied together by shifting the handle 87 andresetting the bolt 88 to change the position of the drive member of thevariable speed mechanism. The picking tubes are used to pick theimperfect or inferior beans from the perfect on the surface of theapron, said beans so removed passing into the receiver G, where they maybe subsequently removed by opening the door 105.

When it is desired to pick other commodities than coffee, the feedroller may be removed and one having grooves larger or smaller in sizesubstituted and the flexible A still greater variation of the feed maybe obtained for using the machine with other commodities (such as peas)by raising or lowering the handle 28 and changing the angle ofinclination of the tray. This last adjustment is also very oftendesirable, for it causes the coffee to feed onto the apron to correspondwith the speed of the feed roller 5 and the apron.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protectby Letters Patent, is

1. A machine of the class set forth, consisting of a carrier, thesurface of which has a nap or shag resembling plush, a hopper, a feedroller near the bottom of said hopper having longitudinal grooves in itsperimeter, a flexible strip adapted to sweep above the surface of saidroller, a tray having a corrugated surface between said feed roller andcarrier, a dirigible, hand operable suction tube movable at will to anydesired part of the carrier surface and having a capacity to pick outonly single bodies, a suction fan and receiver connected with said tube,actuating mechanism, a clutch connected with said actuating mechanism,means for differentiating the speed of the carrier, feed roller andtray, and a frame for supporting said parts.

2. A machine of the class set forth, consisting of a carrier belt, atable around which said belt passes, a hopper, a feed roller near thebottom of said hopper having a groove in its perimeter, a flexible stripabove said roller, said strip adjustable toward the surface of saidroller, a tray inclined from said roller toward the surface of said beltand having a plain surface below said roller and a corrugated surfaceadjoining said belt, means for varying the angle of inclination of saidtray, means for revolving said feed roller, oscillating said tray andmoving said belt, and a dirigible, hand-operable suction tube movable atwill to any desired part of the surface of said carrier and having acapacity to pick out only single bodies.

3. A machine of the class set forth, consisting of a table, a supportingframe to which said table is detachably fastened, an endless apronpassing around said table, a spout at the delivery end of said apron, ahopper on said frame, a feed roller detachably fastened near the bottomof said hopper and having longitudinal grooves in its perimeter, aflexible strip above the surface of said roller, means for adjustingsaid strip toward said roller, a feed tray swung from said frame andinclined from said feed roller toward the receiving end of said apronand having a plain surface below said roller and a corrugated surfaceadjoining said apron, means for changing the angle of inclination ofsaid tray, a suction tube having a reduced inlet and a series ofopenings adjoining said inlet, which are equal in combined area,including said inlet, to the cross-sectional area of the passageway inthe body ofsaid tube, a suction fan and receiver connected with saidtube, a drive shaft, an eccentric on said drive shaft connected withsaid tray to oscillate the same, a clutch for throwing said drive shaftinto and out of operation, means for locking name to this specificationin the presence of the1 operative Cparts of said chllotch engaged twosubscribing Witnesses. anc disen 'a e a connection etWeen said 1 driveshaft a nd suction fan, and differential I WALTER MAAS' 5 mechanismconnected With said drive shaft, Witnesses:

apron and feed roller. E. M. BOESEL,

In testimony whereof I have signed my F. G. BRADBURY.

